Features
Four Religious Sisters Celebrate Milestone Jubilees
On February 2, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge offered Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral for four Religious Sisters celebrating milestones of service in 2008.
Sister Maxine Tancraitor, C.D.P. – 60 Years
Maxine Tancraitor is a member of the Congregation of Divine Providence, whose mission it is to “make Providence more visible to the world.” Sister spent 13 years of her ministry in Puerto Rico, teaching and administering in a high school sponsored by her Congregation. After returning to the mainland, she served in pastoral ministry in the Pittsburgh area for 20 years, but yearned to work with the new Spanish-speaking immigrants to the U.S. She and Sister Theresine Gildea, C.D.P., began this ministry in Monroe, NC, near Charlotte. When that community became more settled, they moved to Clinton, NC, to serve in Immaculate Conception Parish and its two missions: Pink Hill and Posada Guadalupana, Mt. Olive (now Maria Reina de las Americas Parish).
For the Sisters, making Providence more visible in the Clinton area consists of responsiveness to the everyday needs of the people: teaching English as a Second Language, teaching catechetics, preparing parishioners for the sacraments, translating for healthcare workers, visiting the sick and imprisoned, and making their home a sanctuary for those in need of a quiet place to pray and someone to talk to. The Sisters used to drive 200 miles a weekend to attend the liturgies at the mission churches and to learn what the needs of these newest immigrants might be. Sister Maxine is embarking on a new venture at the county jail—teaching character education to inmates preparing to be released back to the community. She speaks of the joy she has known in her life in her community, where she made her commitment and never looked back. Her love for the people she works with as well as prayer and community sustain her. She is especially grateful to her Sisters for putting the love and service of God before anything else. Sister Maxine is confident that others, like her, will continue to be attracted by a life of calm and joyous service.
Sister Edna English, D.W. – 50 Years
Edna English is a native North Carolinian, and was not a Catholic when she began nurse’s training under the tutelage of the Daughters of Wisdom. She came into the Church after her sophomore year. When she completed her training, she worked for 2 ½ years at a hospital in Portsmouth, VA, in the segregated unit. She says that those years remain the most instructive of her nursing career as she and the others in the unit made do with second-hand equipment and fewer resources than the adjacent white unit. Sister joined the Daughters of Wisdom, attracted by the hard work of the Sisters, their willingness to do whatever was needed to help those in their care, and the special concern they had for poor women and children.
As a Sister, Sister Edna worked in Brooklyn, NY, with children who had contracted polio, and led the maternity and pediatrics unit of a hospital in Port Jefferson, NY. She came to UNC-Chapel Hill to earn a master’s degree in nursing and sought an assignment where skilled nursing was difficult to find. She went to work for the NC Department of Health supervising and teaching the nurses in state health clinics in eastern North Carolina. After 20 years Sister retired from her work for the state, and appreciates the time she now has to pray, read and serve within her community of Greenville and St. Gabriel’s parish. She trains liturgical ministries at the parish, serves as guardian ad litem to two children in the area, and keeps an open home where people can come to pray and talk. Her hobby is wood turning. Sister Edna has loved every ministry she has had and believes that others will commit to a life of religious consecration as they have ever since the time of Christ, even if the configuration is different from the past.
Sister Attracta Kelly, O.P. – 50 Years
Attracta Kelly joined the Adrian Dominican Sisters after growing up in a household that encouraged her to help others, particularly the less fortunate. Since Vatican II, the Adrian Dominican Sisters have focused their energies on poor and oppressed women; in more recent years that commitment has included people around the globe. The ministries that Sister Attracta has enjoyed reflect her Congregation’s interest in responding to the signs of the times. She taught in Florida before being assigned as principal of a parish school in Montgomery, AL, at the peak of the school integration tumult. She responded to a call from Bishop Dozier to assist in civil rights organization for African American residents of West Tennessee. Sister speaks with reverence of the courageous people she worked with who participated in meetings to request paved roads and piped water. She was able to see these residents advance to the point that they were serving on town councils and school boards. Sister Attracta spent three months in Northern Ireland, her birthplace, and during that time worked with the Jesuits at Portadown at a high point in sectarian violence. From there she was elected to leadership in her Community and led its efforts in peace and justice.
During that time, the Congregation was asked to provide safe residence for Central American refugees, denied residency by the U.S., until their papers arrived for transition to Canada. Aware of the vulnerability of such refugees, Sister Attracta attended law school, graduating from Catholic University School of Law and passing the bar exam for Maryland and Washington, D.C. Sister currently leads the immigration law section of the NC Justice Center and supervises the immigration law efforts for the Diocese of Raleigh in Raleigh, Wilmington and Greenville. Her greatest reward in this work is seeing a person or family able to establish their lives securely in this country. Sister believes that the life of religious consecration will continue in the future; yet it is likely to look different from today. She and another Adrian Dominican Sister welcome lay friends to their home for theological reading, reflection and discussion. It is a way of giving back for the educational opportunities they have had. Especially with the many demands on her time, Sister Attracta is sustained by opportunities for solitude and prayer.
Sister Monique Dissen, IHM – 50 Years
Monique Dissen is a member of the Scranton-based Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM). The IHM spirit is joyful loving service, and Sister Monique expressed that spirit for 38 years teaching children in the primary grades. She loved starting the children out—teaching them that they were special, having them learn reading, love and respect. Sister spent her summers working with physically challenged children at St. Joseph’s Center in Scranton and helping the infirm Sisters at the Marian Convent. After teaching, Sister spent a sabbatical with the Carmelite Sisters where she discerned that she would like to minister to the sick, the dying and their families. Sister has built this ministry at St. Paul’s Parish in New Bern since1998. Sister Monique teaches volunteers who visit the sick in their homes to give their caregivers time off, bring the Eucharist to patients from the surrounding areas at Craven Regional Medical Center, and comfort those in the hospital’s psychiatric ward. She reports that she and her team start on the top floor of the hospital and work their way downstairs visiting patients along the way. Sister also serves as an Adjunct Chaplain to all faiths at the hospital and has been honored for over 500 volunteer hours. More recently, Sister is working with a hospice nurse to facilitate a grieving group to those who recently lost a loved one, and they have completed their first seven-session grief ministry program.
Sister Monique considers this time in her life sacred because she walks with holy people. She attributes her vocation to the wonderful Sisters who taught her and continue to edify her. Her faith is rooted deeply in the Eucharist and nourished by prayer. She is not worried about the future of religious life. “God is in charge,” she says, “Plant a vineyard and they will come.” Sister meets good people along the way and finds God’s beauty everywhere when she has time for her hobby, photography.